Dawn, Legend of Zelda Novelette
by MusicalOne89
Summary: Since he could remember, a little boy without a name has been a slave in the land ruled by evil soldiers and a callous king. Is this boy destined to save Hyrule, or is he destined for death? A serious attempt at a Legend of Zelda novelette. Violence, real-world themes, and adult language.


**DAWN**

A Legend of Zelda Fan Fiction

_Chapter 1: Break_

_CHAINED AND BEATEN_ blue in places, the little boy continued to work in the merciless sun that bore down on his bare back.

His skin was an array of colors, from bright red blisters of toiling in the heat, to the fresh blue or yellowing old blotches of skin from being kicked or punched repeatedly by kids or soldiers.

The kids called him "Patch."

Patch didn't really like his name, but it was hard for him to mind it. It was the only thing he owned. He had no family, no friends, no name. This was the story of every slave in the land of Hyrule. They all had numbers that had long faded onto their skin, but Patch… he had a name. And that was something to hold on to.

Every day, Patch woke up at dawn with the other kids to begin their work. Typically, a solider would dump a basket of stale loaves onto the dirt floor. There was never enough bread, so the kids would violently scuffle over food.

"If ya don't fight, ya don't eat!" the solider wailed in laughter.

Patch knew this game well. A few years ago, a kid nearly crippled his right hand after he failed to dodge a punch. The bronze boy grabbed Patch by the wrist and nearly snapped it in half. He lost the fight that day and he struggled to fight for weeks due to his injury. The boy was forced to chop and carry lumber with only his left hand. He was very uncoordinated at first, but his strength soon outpaced his right arm.

Even after his right arm healed, Patch continued to only use his left. It was best to keep his returned strength a secret. Patch knew very well the consequences if he lost another fight.

After breakfast, Patch was paired with three other kids to work on specific tasks for the day. Usually, he chopped wood outside of the guard shed. The Hylian soldiers used the wood to cook hearty meals, which Patch could smell from outside.

"Oh, I smell meat," one of the kids whispered eagerly. "I haven't had meat since I killed and cooked that Bombchu. Remember that?"

Patch knew this kid as "Break," the kid who broke his hand. The other kids nodded in excitement.

"Yeah!" "That was crazy!"

All the kids knew that catching Bombchu were dangerous, as they had a nasty habit of exploding if you didn't catch them first. The young slaves were so impressed the night he caught the rat that they allowed him to keep the spoils.

"I wonder what the soldier's food tastes like?" the smallest kid in the group asked. The axe he worked with was about as tall as him, and he struggled to use it. Patch tried to cut double the wood so then the guards wouldn't punish the small boy so much.

"I dunno…" said Break, thinking slowly. "Hey… Patch! You're strong. You should go steal some and bring it back for us!"

"Yeah! Do it!" the other kids shouted in chorus. "It would be easy for you!"

Patch ignored them and continued working. He always had been strong enough to cut through the thick, rusted shackles that bound their legs, but he knew it would be a death sentence. "To defy is to die."

"Hey, Blotches! Are ya even listening to me?" Break's face began to turn turnip red. "If… if you don't stop choppin', I'll break more than your weak arm!"

Patch's axe slid smoothly through another piece of wood and he placed it in the pile.

"That's… that's it!" Break howled. "I'm going to make sure you never use your arms again!"

Break lunged forward with his axe, throwing his weight into his attack. Patch quickly deflected the blow with his left arm, using the head of his axe. The clash of metal surprised Break, causing him to lose his balance and power. He lay on the beaten dirt behind Patch, panting and coughing up dust that he ate on his journey to the ground.

Patch turned his back and returned to work.

"You…" Break growled. He slowly crawled back to his feet, axe in hand.

"Stop it!" the smallest kid cried. "Please, just stop! You are going to get the soldiers out here! They'll kill us all!"

A smile flashed across Break's face.

He grabbed the axe, and lunged toward Patch's back again. Patch sensed his attack and dodged, but the blow of Break's axe snapped his shackles in two.

"Oooh boy!" Break smirked, wiping the dirt off of his face. "You're gonna die."


End file.
